Padres 5, Braves 3

[August 18, 2015]  SAN DIEGO -- Will Venable had two RBIs, Matt Kemp and Yonder Alonso homered and Colin Rea won his second straight start as the San Diego Padres defeated the Atlanta Braves 5-3 on Monday night.

Rea (2-0), who prevailed in his major league debut on Aug. 11 against the Cincinnati Reds, pitched 5 2/3 innings and was charged with two runs and five hits. He struck out four and walked two.

Craig Kimbrel, the third Padres reliever, pitched the ninth for his 34th save of the season.

Williams Perez (4-4) worked 6 1/3 innings, allowing four runs, four hits with four walks. He struck out two in losing his fourth straight start.

The Braves have dropped 16 of their last 24 games.

Alonso hit a solo shot in the eighth. Venable drove in two of the Padres' three runs in the second. Kemp, with a 10-game hitting streak, smacked his 14th homer of the year in the fifth.
 

The Braves chased Rea after catcher A. J. Pierzynski's two-out RBI single in the sixth drove in center fielder Cameron Maybin, cutting the Padres' lead to 4-2. Reliever Bud Norris ended the inning by striking out third baseman Adonis Garcia.

Rea is the seventh Padre in franchise history to win his opening two starts.

Kemp took a Perez fastball over the right-field fence in the fifth to stretch the Padres' lead to 4-1.

Atlanta had cut its deficit to 3-1 in the fourth when Maybin, an former Padre, redirected Rea's 91 mph fastball for his career-high 10th home run of the season.

The Braves threatened in the third when shortstop Andrelton Simmons singled and reached second on Perez's sacrifice bunt. But Rea stranded Simmons by getting left fielder Michael Bourn to ground out.

The Padres struck first with a three-run second inning.

Catcher Derek Norris' infield single drove in left fielder Justin Upton after he led off with a single. Upton advanced to third on first baseman Yonder Alonso's ground-rule double to left center. Venable chased in Alonso and Norris with a single for a 3-0 cushion.

NOTES: INF Jedd Gyorko became the fourth Padres player to start at shortstop this season. Gyorko last played that position in college at West Virginia. ... Padres OF Wil Myers (wrist) has increased his swinging regimen and could take batting practice this week. ... 1B Yonder Alonso returned to the Padres' lineup after getting struck in the temple by OF Justin Upton's helmet on Saturday. ... With RHP Peter Moylan's appearance on Sunday, the Braves have used 56 players this season, a franchise high. ... After the Braves finish this seven-game road trip, they will play 25 of their last 38 games at home.

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